inadmissible. 45. The Complainant in the present communication argued that it has satisfied the admissibility conditions set out in Article 56 of the African Charter and as such, the communication should be declared admissible. The Respondent State on the other hand submitted that the communication should be declared inadmissible because, according to the State, the Complainant has not complied with Article 56(5) of the African Charter. As there seems to be agreement by both parties as to the fulfillment of the other requirements under Article 56, this Commission will not make any pronouncements thereof. 46. Article 56(5) of the African Charter provides that communications relating to human and peoples' rights shall be considered if they: "[a]re sent after exhausting local remedies, if any, unless it is obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged". 47. Human rights law regards it as supremely important for a person whose rights have been violated to make use of domestic remedies to right the wrong, rather than address the issue to an international tribunal. The rule is founded on the premise that the full and effective implementation of international obligations in the field of human rights is designed to enhance the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national level. In Free Legal Assistance Group, Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, Union Interafricaine des Droits de l'Homme, Les Témoins de Jehovah / DRC, Paragraph 36 and Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO) / Zambia, Paragraph 11, this Commission held that "a government should have notice of a human rights violation in order to have the opportunity to remedy such violations before being called before an international body." 1 Such an opportunity will enable the accused state to save its reputation, which would be inevitably tarnished if it were brought before an international jurisdiction. 48. The rule also reinforces the subsidiary and complementary relationship of the international system to systems of internal protection. To the extent possible, an international tribunal, including this Commission, should be prevented from playing the role of a court of first instance, a role that it cannot under any circumstances arrogate to itself. Access to an international organ should be available, but only as a last resort; after the domestic remedies have been exhausted and have failed. Moreover, local remedies are normally quicker, cheaper, and more effective than international ones. They can be more effective in the sense that an appellate court can reverse the decision of a lower court, whereas the decision of an international organ does not have that effect, although it will engage the international responsibility of the state concerned. 49. The African Charter states that this African Commission shall consider a communication after the applicant has exhausted local remedies, "if any, unless it is obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged". The Charter thus recognises that, though the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies is a conventional provision, it should not constitute an unjustifiable impediment to access to international remedies. This Commission has also held that Article 56(5) "must be applied concomitantly with Article 7, which establishes and protects the right to fair trial". th 2 In interpreting the rule, the African Commission appears to take into consideration the circumstances of each case, including the general context in which the formal remedies operate and the personal circumstances of the applicant. Its interpretation of the local remedies criteri[ion] can therefore not be understood without some knowledge of that general context. 50. A local remedy has been defined as "any domestic legal action that may lead to the resolution of the complaint at the local or national level." 3 The Rules of Procedure of the African Commission provide that "[t]he Commission shall determine questions of admissibility pursuant to Article 56 of the Charter" 4 Generally, the rules require applicants to set out in their applications the steps taken to exhaust domestic remedies. They must provide some prima facie evidence of an attempt to exhaust local remedies.5 According to the African Commission's guidelines on the submission of communications, applicants are expected to indicate, for instance, the courts where they sought domestic remedies. Applicants must indicate that they have had recourse to all domestic remedies to no avail and must supply evidence to that effect. If they were unable to use such remedies, they must explain why. They could do so by submitting evidence derived from analogous situations or testifying to a state policy of denying such recourse. 51. In the jurisprudence of this Commission, three major criteria could be deduced in determining the rule on the exhaustion of local remedies, namely: that the remedy must be available, effective and sufficient. 6 According to this Commission, a remedy is considered to be available if the petitioner can pursue it without impediments 7 or if he can make use of it in the circumstances of his case.8 The word 'available' means 'readily obtainable; accessible'; or 'attainable, reachable; on call, on hand, ready, present; . . . convenient, at one's service, at one's command, at one's disposal, at one's beck and call'.9 In other words, "remedies, the availability of which is not evident, cannot be invoked by the State to the detriment of the Complainant." 6